Name Bias

Me. You didn't really think I was a vampiric penguin, did you?

I realize that this isn't exactly a new development -- name bias has been around a lot longer than people realize -- and perhaps, it may sound silly to say that someone's life could be effected in someway based on what their name is, but the sad truth is, a person's name really can have a positive or negative effect on their life. I first realized this when I began frequenting a highly opinionated baby name board in an attempt to find unusual and creative names for characters of a story I was working on. The board was filled with women who insisted -- and continue to do so -- that the best names for children were classic names along the lines of John, Margaret, Rhett, Pearl, Audrey, and ect., ect. Every day, a different woman would post, inquiring about a name that was more creative -- or cre8tive -- than the last and every day the board's regulars would post mostly negative comments, ranging from strange to just flat-out trashy.
The reasoning behind this?
A study performed by the authors of the book Freakonomics, which has gone on to become a hit documentary. In the study, five-thousand resumes were sent out to employers. Half of those resumes were signed with black names and the other half were signed with white names but were the same otherwise. The reasoning behind this being that research from a previous study had proven that African-American citizens were the ethnicity most-likely to choose a unique name for their children. After the resumes were sent out, the researchers found that the resumes signed with white names were the ones that got more call-backs from the employers, and that the resumes signed with black names were thirty-three percent less likely to receive a call-back from the employers despite having the same skills and education as an applicant with a white name. What does this mean?
In short, it means that if you give your child a more unique name, you could potentially be making their life more difficult than it would be had you named them John, Mary, Lucas, or Elizabeth essentially. It also means that there are a lot of prejudiced and judgmental employers out there, making other people's lives harder than they need be, but they aren't the only ones. When asked, members of the aforementioned baby name board -- both stay-at-home mothers and hard-working, employed mothers -- stated that if they saw or heard a name like Rashonda or Tyrone, they would assume that both the person and their parents were uneducated citizens of a low-class income status whereas if they saw or hear a name like Henry or Elise, they would assume that person and their parents were well-educated citizens of a high-class income status.
Am I the only one who finds it sad that people think like this?
I'm sure that I'm not, but sometimes I feel that I am and I'm sure that you're wondering why I care.
Well, you see, that's because this name bias effects not only African-American names, but names of all ethnicities and historical backgrounds. Take my name for example -- Maria. Maria is typically a name associated with Hispanic, Latin, and Italian communities. I am none of those things. Don't believe me -- take a look at the picture at the top of the page and read the caption. That is me and aside from the fact, I don't look distinctly Hispanic, Latin, or Italian -- or at least I don't think I do -- my own research on surnames from my family tree has shown that my family is mostly Eastern European, stemming most noticeably from Germany and Ukraine with some Celtic and Native American blood thrown in. Still, though, people find out what my name is online and automatically assume I'm one of those three things, usually Hispanic and what are Hispanics currently associated with?
Being illegal immigrants, among other things unfortunately because I know for a fact that that certainly is not true for all of them. However, that doesn't stop people from associating my name with that negative stereotype, which means I am more likely to be judged unfairly because of my name, and that goes for other people in my situation, too.
Let's say I was pregnant -- which I'm NOT -- and was having a daughter and decided that I wanted to name her Sakura. Perhaps you've heard that name. It's very popular in anime and manga or Japanese cartoons and comic books. Now, in Japan Sakura is considered a beautiful, classic girls' name and not only that but when translated, the name means, "cherry blossom" as in cherry blossom trees of which there are several hundred of in Washington D.C.  The name is quite similar to the European name Elizabeth, but if I wanted to use the name, I would be judged poorly for doing so because I'm not Japanese and my child would be judged poorly because of my decision to name her Sakura. How do I know this?
I asked.
Not only is this unfair to me, but I believe it is unfair to anyone else who wants to use a "unique" name, despite the fact that it is perfectly legitimate in another culture and heritage and has a perfectly pleasant meaning. It's also unfair to all the children, who grow up only to find out that they have work ten times harder to get a job than John Doe who spent his senior year of high school in rehab or Jane Doe who worked in a strip during college for fun and all because of their names. What are we going to do change it, though?
What can we do?
Well, our choices as parents and future parents are to either given in to the norms of society and pick what a lot of people would call a respectable name for our children and future children or to pick a unique name and deal with the hardships that come with it, knowing that we will have a picked name for our children that we love and that means something special to us. Even though, I don't have any children nor am I expecting any children any time soon, I have already made my decision.
What will you choose to do when that time comes for you? Please, feel free to share.
Thank you for reading.
~vampirepenguin19